Vancouver, B.C. – The University of Victoria women's soccer team's season ended Friday afternoon, falling 2-1 in overtime to the Trinity Western Spartans in the Canada West bronze medal match at Thunderbird Stadium. With UBC already qualified for the U SPORTS Championship as tournament host, the match served as a winner-take-all contest for the conference's final national championship berth.
The Vikes fell behind early but refused to go away.
- Trinity Western opened the scoring in the ninth minute when Luciana Andrews found the back of the net.
- A pivotal point in the first half came as Trinity Western was awarded a penalty kick, with a chance to go up two goals in the early stages of the match. Just like she did a day ago, Stefanie Mocnik stepped up and delivered a massive save to prevent the Spartans from building on their lead.
- Victoria settled into the match and continued to push forward, creating opportunities against a Spartans side that carried much of the play offensively.
Victoria found its breakthrough at the perfect moment.
- With their season on the line, the Vikes found an equalizer in the dying moments of regulation. Following a Victoria corner in the 90th minute, Adrianna Hilton delivered a dangerous ball into the box that was punched away by the Trinity Western goalkeeper. The clearance fell directly to Raina Hagel, who got her head on the loose ball and willed it over the line to tie the match 1-1 and keep Victoria's national championship hopes alive.
- The dramatic equalizer sent the bronze medal match into extra time with a U SPORTS berth still up for grabs.
The decisive moment came early in overtime.
- Trinity Western restored its lead in the 96th minute when Kylie Hendricks found the winner.
- Victoria continued to push for another equalizer and nearly found one through Scarlett McNeely, whose chance was turned aside by the Spartans goalkeeper.
- Ruby Nicholas also generated a quality opportunity later in extra time, but Trinity Western's goalkeeper again came up with the save to preserve the lead.
- Stefanie Mocnik made six saves across 120 minutes to keep the Vikes within striking distance throughout the contest.
Victoria concludes its season after advancing to the Canada West semifinal and coming within one win of qualifying for the 2026 U SPORTS Women's Soccer Championship.
